Synopsis
In September 1886, Geronimo, seventeen warriors, fourteen women, and six children surrendered to General Nelson A. Miles at Skeleton Canyon, Arizona. Geronimo and his band had been chased for five months across the southwestern United States and northern Mexico by 5,000 American soldiers, 3,000 Mexican soldiers, and hundreds of civilians. Not a single member of the band had been killed or captured when Geronimo surrendered. At the time of his surrender, Geronimo was the most feared and hated Indian in the United States. After Geronimo’s surrender, the army moved the entire Chiricahua tribe, nearly seven hundred men women and children, to Florida for two years and then to Mount Vernon Barracks, Alabama, for seven years. During their time in captivity at Mount Vernon, Hampton Roads nearly became the site for a reservation for Geronimo and the Chiricahua People. Throughout their years in captivity, a number of Chiricahua children were educated at the Hampton Institute. Lieutenant Charles B. Gatewood, who with two Apache scouts, an interpreter, and a mule packer risked his life to track down the Geronimo band in the Sierra Madre Mountains of Mexico to talk Geronimo into accepting surrender terms from General Miles. When the band accepted the terms, Gatewood helped shepherd the band past hostile Mexicans and Americans to surrender to General Miles. The army never recognized Gatewood for his phenomenal courage and work in bringing in Geronimo, giving the credit for “capturing” Geronimo to officers who had chased him for five months without success. Gatewood died at Fort Monroe, Hampton, Virginia, ten years after Geronimo surrendered. Hampton Roads has been a lot closer to the once wild and free Chiricahua Apaches than many realize.
About the Author
W. Michael Farmer combines over fifteen years of research into nineteenth-century Apache history and culture with Southwest-living experience to fill his stories with a genuine sense of time and place. A retired Ph.D. physicist, his scientific research included measurement of atmospheric aerosols with laser-based instruments. He published a two-volume reference book on atmospheric effects on remote sensing and award-winning short fiction in magazines and anthologies and nonfiction essays. His novels have won numerous awards including three Will Rogers Gold and five Silver Medallions, New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards for Adventure, Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction, a Non-Fiction New Mexico Book of the Year, and a Spur Finalist Award for Best First Novel. His book series includes The Life and Times of Yellow Boy, Mescalero Apache and Legends of the Desert, and seven books on the life and times of Geronimo.